Along Came a Wolf (The Yellow Hoods, #1): Steampunk meets Fairy Tale

by Adam Dreece

  “This is not happening!” LeLoup screamed as he ran for the front door.

  “It’s over. You’ve lost,” said Nikolas to LeLoup as he emerged. “Let this end now.” He was hopeful, but not overconfident. Nikolas had been in situations before where the tables had turned at the last second.

  Squeals came forward from the forest’s edge, his pistol pointing at LeLoup. Bore exited the house and joined his brother. LeLoup could see, from the corner of his eye, Bakon coming around the house behind him, having dealt with the horseman at the back.

  Tee ran off to join Elly behind some bushes.

  LeLoup’s horseman slowly dropped his pistol, dismounted his horse, and put his hands in the air.

  LeLoup glared at the man in disbelief. “What are you doing, fool?”

  The horseman looked back and forth between LeLoup and the Cochon brothers, who were closing in. “I am not going to die,” he replied.

  “Leave,” commanded Bakon to the horseman. “Never come back to this town.”

  The horseman turned and started to run. LeLoup grabbed for his pistol only to realize that he’d lost it. Spotting the horseman's gun on the ground, LeLoup dove, grabbed it, and fired.

  As the horseman fell to the ground, LeLoup threw something into the air, covered his head, and closed his eyes.

  Tee and Elly heard a loud boom and the sound of a terrified horse running off. The clearing in front of the house was filled with smoke and dust.

  “What happened?” shouted Elly, her ears ringing. “Are they… are they dead?”

  Tee tried to detect any signs of life. There was only dusty silence. Frantic with worry, she turned to Elly. “They can’t be.”

  The smoke cleared a little. Someone stood in the middle of the clearing. A deep, dark laughter pierced the air.

  “There!” said Tee, hopefully.

  “Hahahaha. Oh my!” said LeLoup with triumphant joy. “You almost had me. I have to admit… what a good job you did getting under my skin! All those stories I’d heard about the Tub …When the stories of this day spread, everyone will come to know that you’re just like everyone else, and that Andre LeLoup disproved the legends. Well played, though. You had almost won.

  “But you thought yourself smarter than you are, Monsieur Klaus. You may be an inventor of sorts—and a member of the Tub—but you are nothing compared to me. I am a master of getting things done,” said LeLoup triumphantly.

  Bore, Bakon, and Squeals had been blown backward and lost their weapons, having taken the brunt of the explosion. Nikolas was on his hands and knees in the dirt, still stunned by the blast.

  The girls saw LeLoup standing over him, slowly taking out the supplies he needed to reload his pistol. LeLoup was enjoying the moment and taking his time.

  “We’ve got to do something,” said Tee, looking around. The ringing in her ears was fading. “We don’t have long. What can we do?”

  “Um, um, um” said Elly, bouncing up and down nervously. “Should we run out there?”

  “No,” said Tee. “My grandfather would never forgive me. We’ve got to be smart.” Tee grabbed her slingshot. “Elly, find me a stone? It’s got to be—”

  “I know the size,” she answered, scrambling. “Isn’t that an impossible distance?”

  “We’ll find out,” said Tee, trying to block the panic that was building up inside of her.

  Bore clutched the ground as if it would stop the dizziness. He looked over at Squeals, who was knocked out cold. Bakon, nearby, was fighting hard to recover. His face had a blind determination on it that brought Bore back to the moment when the brothers had been abandoned, and Bakon had promised them that they’d be fine.

  LeLoup finished reloading the pistol and tucked it into his belt. He then crouched down and playfully looked into Klaus’s eyes. “You know that little boom I made, old man? I invented it. Well—I stole some parts from a man of no consequence and made it better. I gave it more force! But the real beauty is in the sound it makes. That ringing in your ears—the feeling of your head spinning? That’s the masterpiece. I hope you appreciate it.”

  Reaching into his own ear, LeLoup pulled out some tightly wrapped cotton. “But that beauty is easily defeated, if you know how. Otherwise, this”—he gestured at Nikolas—“happens to you. Now, where were we?” He stood up and grabbed the pistol from his belt.

  “I can’t find a good one!” said Elly. “How can there not be a single smooth stone?”

  “Keep looking! There’s got to be one. It can’t end like this!” said Tee, feeling around furiously on the forest floor.

  LeLoup looked up for a moment, unsure if he’d heard something from the bushes. Shrugging off the distraction, he waited for Nikolas to respond. He needed to hear the defeat in the old man’s voice.

  Bakon staggered to his feet and bent over, placing his hands on his knees. He was shaking his head to try and clear the ringing and the last of the dizziness.

  Nikolas, meanwhile, turned his head up and looked LeLoup in the eyes. He could barely hear LeLoup, but he could read his face and lips enough to understand what LeLoup was saying. Like the others, Nikolas’ head was spinning.

  “Well?” asked LeLoup, licking his lips and relishing the moment.

  Nikolas glanced around. The girls were safe. Bakon was dealing with the effects of the blast, but clearly couldn’t be of any help. Squeals and Bore were not in good shape.

  He hoped LeLoup was enough of a professional that if everything were over with quickly, he’d immediately leave and Nikolas’ family and friends would be unharmed. Nikolas bowed his head and quietly said, “Whatever you want—the answer is still no.”

  “If I can’t get what St. Malo wants,” said LeLoup, teeth clenched, “then at least I’ll have this.”

  “I’ve got one!” yelled Elly, tossing the stone to Tee, who snatched it out of the air.

  Bakon was finally over the last effects of the explosion. He charged at LeLoup.

  Tee pulled back on her slingshot.

  A gunshot rang out.

  CHAPTER NINE

  What Keen Eyes

  Captain Gabriel Archambault marched into the hospital and down the hallways until he came to a white door with two guards outside. He nodded to them as he opened the door and entered the room.

  Over many years, his desire for adventure and action had been replaced with acceptance of a much more mundane world. Time had traded his slim, muscular body for a fat belly, a big bald spot, and a bit of a hunch. Even his gray mustache seemed to have gained weight.

  The room was crowded and noisy. “Who are all these people?” yelled an annoyed Gabriel to everyone. “All of you! If you don’t have to be here at this moment, get out!”

  Everyone stopped in surprise and looked at him. Most of them immediately left. Three guards, a doctor, and a nurse remained.

  “What’s the story?” Gabriel asked them, annoyed that he’d had to come all the way down to the hospital to find out. It had already been a long day, and the last thing he wanted was to spend time in the house of sick people, as he often called it.

  A sergeant stepped forward. “Captain Archambault,” he said, saluting.

  Captain Archambault tried not to roll his eyes at the salute; he was not in a patient mood. “Did we get LeLoup?” he asked hopefully.

  “LeLoup is over there, sir,” answered the sergeant, pointing to a hospital bed partially obscured by the doctor and nurse. “He’s not going anywhere, sir.”

  Gabriel glanced over at the two occupied hospital beds.

  The sergeant continued, “He took a pretty serious pounding from one of those Cochon brothers.”

  “Are we laying charges?” asked Gabriel, concerned. He wondered if he would have to reveal his relationship with the brothers.

  “I wasn’t planning on it, sir,” said the sergeant, shaking his head.

  “Good. But I think you need to correct your wording. If someone were to assault someone else in this town, they would have to be charged. However,
if someone fell on someone else, that would be a simple accident. So—are you saying that the Cochon brother fell on Monsieur LeLoup?”

  “Yes, sir,” said the sergeant, nodding to the new version of events. “He fell.”

  “How unfortunate for Monsieur LeLoup. What about the other one?” asked Gabriel, nodding toward the second bed.

  “He died a half hour ago. Shot by LeLoup at close range. There was nothing we could do for him, sir.”

  The captain rubbed his chin. “Any witnesses?”

  The sergeant straightened up proudly. “We have many witnesses. The victim also lived long enough to tell me what happened. I’d arrived on the scene first, along with one of our graduates.”

  The captain nodded approvingly. “Okay,” he said, unfolding his arms and looking around. “Why are there still a doctor and a nurse here? This man died, and LeLoup just suffered injuries caused by someone falling on him.”

  A young woman in guard uniform stepped forward and saluted the captain. “Sir, that’s because they just removed the bullet from LeLoup’s shoulder. I shot him before he took the pounding from Monsieur Cochon.”

  The sergeant stepped between the woman and the surprised captain. “Sir, allow me to introduce one of our newest graduates. She only started this morning and has already started making a name for herself. Her name is Egelina-Marie… ah… Archambault.”

  The captain glared at the sergeant. “Really? I know I look old, but do you think me a stupid old man who can’t recognize his own daughter?”

  “Ah, s-s-sorry sir,” stammered the sergeant.

  Gabriel rolled his eyes before looking at his daughter. “Hello, love.”

  “Captain!” she replied professionally.

  Gabriel looked at the floor and mentally kicked himself. He’d done exactly what he’d told her not to do. Many times he’d said: You can’t call me Papa when you are on duty. You will need to call me Captain. I will be calling you by your rank or last name or both—the same as I do with everyone else.

  Yet here he was, the first time he ran into her, and he’d failed to follow his own advice. He thought back to an old conversation with Nikolas about rules, and smiled.

  “Report, Archambault,” the captain ordered, trying to look and sound official.

  “A young boy found us on patrol, sir. He claimed that lives were in danger, including that of Monsieur Klaus. We followed the boy and handled the situation.”

  The sergeant was sweating bullets.

  “Sergeant?” asked Captain Archambault. He could sense that something wasn’t being shared with him.

  The sergeant smiled awkwardly.

  The captain turned to his daughter, who gave him an all-too-familiar look. He knew then that something was bothering the sergeant, but his daughter didn’t want him asking about it; she was handling it.

  Deciding to move on, Gabriel asked, “Why was LeLoup shot?”

  “I arrived on the scene just as he was preparing to shoot Monsieur Klaus,” Egelina-Marie replied.

  Gabriel’s eyes opened wide. “Then what happened?”

  The sergeant jumped in. “Sir, she shot him at a distance of at least three hundred yards. She shot him precisely in the shoulder, making him drop his pistol just before he could execute Monsieur Klaus. LeLoup fell to the ground immediately.”

  Gabriel was beside himself in disbelief. He’d had no idea how skilled she was with rifles. His wife had kept Egelina-Marie’s secret to herself. “Three hundred yards… that’s… that’s nearly impossible.”

  “I know, sir,” said the sergeant. “What’s more amazing is that she arrived on the scene, and in one second realized what needed to be done—then took the shot. She shot from a standing position.”

  The captain looked at his daughter in amazement. “A snap-shot?”

  Egelina-Marie smiled. “They’ve been calling me Eg the Crack Shot. Not bad for my first day, sir?”

  Gabriel beamed with pride. “Not bad.” Then he violated a few more pieces of his own advice and gave her a big hug. “You saved a very good man today, Egelina-Marie. A very good man.”

  “I know, Papa. I know,” she said, hugging him back.

  Egelina-Marie had left one thing out. When she and Nikolas had pulled Bakon off LeLoup, she had—for the briefest moment—exchanged a glance with Bakon and, ever since then… she couldn’t get him out of her mind.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Licking Wounds

  The third floor of the treehouse was a six-foot square platform with a sturdy wooden railing. The view was breathtaking as the autumn sun touched the horizon and the adventurous day slowly retired.

  The brilliant colors of the forest mirrored the mix of thoughts and emotions the yellow-hooded trio felt as they sat and thought about their day. They silently watched the leaves dance and the trees sway.

  All of a sudden, Elly hiccuped loudly. She tried not to look embarrassed. Her hiccups were more like a bear roaring than a mouse sneezing.

  Richy and Tee tried to ignore it and continue the thoughtful mood.

  Once again, Elly erupted in a hiccup. This time she was a bit embarrassed. Richy and Tee broke their silence and giggled.

  “It was terrifying,” said Richy, looking out at the sunset.

  “The hiccups or what happened today?” asked Tee, trying to resist the grin creeping across her face.

  Elly, trying to head off the teasing, took control. She looked at Richy. “You saved the day, Richy.”

  Tee nodded in agreement.

  Richy continued to look straight ahead. “Were you guys terrified too?”

  “Yup,” said Elly.

  “Oh yeah!” answered Tee. “That hiccup was monstrous.”

  Elly reached over and punched Tee in the shoulder.

  Richy smiled, nodded quietly, and then continued. “I was trying so hard to convince those guards to come. That older guard was just refusing and wanted to put me in jail if I wouldn’t just go away. I was scared he was going to shoot the lady guard when she started to follow me, but I was more scared of you guys getting hurt.”

  “You know, when I got captured, I was really scared,” said Elly. “I kept thinking that maybe I should have planned a little.”

  Tee turned and looked at her. “I’m glad you didn’t. There was no time. I was out of energy. They would have caught me if you hadn’t shown up when you did. You guys saved my life, and my grandfather’s. I don’t know how to repay you… I’ll never forget it.”

  They sat there in silence again, watching the sun dip a little further beneath the distant mountain range.

  After a couple of minutes, Richy said, “You’d have done it for us, Lala.”

  “Yeah, only you’d have done it with more style,” added Elly, grinning.

  Richy sprang up and did an exaggerated imitation of Tee’s signature gestures. “Oh, yeah, and about a half dozen La-la’s! Fear not, for here I am! La-la! La-la! Fa-la-la-la-la!”

  All three burst into hysterics. It felt good to laugh.

  Tee stood up and leaned on the railing. “We have to head back before our parents wonder where we are.”

  As they started to walk down to the first floor, Tee said, “There’s one thing I keep wondering about.”

  “What’s that?” asked Richy.

  “What was all of this about? I can’t explain it, but I feel like there’s something evil out there.”

  “In the forest?” said Richy, a bit confused.

  Elly corrected him. “No—she means out in the world.”

  Tee nodded. “I feel like our fate is somehow tied to it. Does that sound crazy?”

  “I know what you mean,” said Elly. “I feel like today was some kind of test.”

  Richy took it in, and asked thoughtfully, “And we passed, right?”

  “Time will tell,” said Tee. “For all we know, this was only the first part.”

  Nikolas walked up to his daughter’s log cabin. He was tired, but had cleaned himself up. He carried a bottle of wine, as he alw
ays did when he’d visit for dinner.

  After wrapping everything up with the guardsmen and Captain Archambault, he was ready for a nice, normal evening with family.

  Jennifer was in the front yard splitting a few logs with an old hand axe.

  “Oh, hi Papa,” she said. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and glanced around. “Where’s Tee?”

  Instinctively, he looked around, but then remembered. “Oh, she went off with her friends. She said she wouldn’t be long.”

  Jennifer gathered some pieces of firewood from the ground, and then stopped. “You’re a bit early,” she said suspiciously. Her dad was notorious for being exactly on time. She studied him and her suspicion became concern. “I’ll put some tea on. I can see you’ve had a busy day. Is everything okay?”

  Nikolas gave a tired smile. “Yes. Yes, my dear. You don’t need to worry about me.”

  Father and daughter entered the log cabin. Jennifer dropped the firewood in the pile beside the wood stove. She took a moment to warm her hands by the fire, and then filled the kettle and placed it on the blackened iron stovetop.

  Nikolas pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and sat down. He loved their cozy, little home. It had two bedrooms and a main room. It was decorated with wonderful crafts. It radiated creativity and love.

  Jennifer took after her mother. Nikolas and Isabella had moved a couple of times before settling nearby, and each time Isabella had managed to turn a house into a home within days.

  “Hello? Papa?” Jennifer attempted to hand her dad a cup of tea for the second time.

  “Oh, sorry,” he said, smiling, accepting it carefully with both hands.

  “You know, Papa, you are a bad liar—at least to me,” she said, sitting down.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Am I?” He paused. “Well, Tee and I, we had some… excitement, today.”

  “Indeed. You’re quite distracted.” She took a first sip of her tea.

  Nikolas looked at his own cup. “I fear, for some reason I cannot explain, that what has happened is not over.”